The politics of emergency services need to be addressed
(CBS/What's Trending) - Quick, do something fast! Your house is on fire! Dial 911, get everyone out and wait for the firefighters to come rescue you.
That is at least what we in the United States have been brought up to do. We have a long tradition of public service in this country, with many volunteer firefighters across the country pitching in. In 2011, you may have to keep waiting, then waiting and then waiting some more thanks to public service budget cuts across the country. This is having a devastating effect on local communities. This is not an isolated trend nor is it one devoid of politics. There are the politics of budgets, and there are the politics of public versus private. Then there are class distinctions, which have been driving a lot of the fury around these issues of late. One state after another is announcing public service cuts. From tiny Ann Arbor, Michigan to New York City and Los Angeles, firefighters are under attack from the budget knife as well as from political attacks. While a national emergency alert system is set to launch in New York City by the end of 2012, lack of funding in local emergency services has already led to several fires that burned far longer, and people have been hurt or killed. We have witnessed an unprecedented attack on the heroes who make up our local police and firefighter protection around the United States. Under the guise of budget cuts, there has been a continual attack on benefits, employment contracts, pensions, and ultimately the actual shuttering of police and firehouses across the country. In the Pacific Palisades, which is a suburb community of Los Angeles, this battle is taking shape over Los Angeles Fire Department Fire House #69. This community is exposed to the elements of the Santa Monica mountains, and is isolated from other communities due to limited access from roads. And then there's the fact that the area is located between the mountains and Pacific Ocean with just a few ingress and egress points. The fight has come down to the Los Angeles City Council for final decision, and there are other competing communities also vying for attention. Interestingly, this community has one of the highest voting rates per election per capita in the County of Los Angeles. This community is well off and one would think it would not be in the position of an engine and crew members its firehouse. But, this episode is just one example of the heated battle taking place in communities across the country right now, and only going to get worse as state budgets continue to collapse.Recently there was a huge outcry in Philadelphia when two children were recently killed in a fire that would have been serviced by a fire engine that was on "brownout" or not on duty due to budget cuts. This has raised the issue of class and wealth, not to mention race in these cutouts. The Philadelphia and New York situations show clearly that many of these budget cuts end up affecting those in lower to middle class communities more often -- although the Pacific Palisades example above shows that even wealthier communities are not immune from the budget cut and the associated drop in services and drop in quality of life.
Other people have tried to take matters in their own hands and find a way that citizens can help with the situation. The Social Media in Emergency Management Initiative (SMEM) is an informal network of Twitter users that are trying to find out how to use and spread word about emergency management news online.
So we have reached a critical decision point in the United States. Are we going to sacrifice our quality of life, our public safety over politically charged budget cutting or are we going to create ways to fix the budget problems and keep our lives safe?